Christoph Waltz Tells James Corden the Epic Story of a Single (Real) Clash of Clans Game

Barton F. Graf ads celebrate 'Clash Achievery'

Barton F. Graf 9000 just rolled out a new campaign for the Supercell game Clash of Clans that's got an interesting mix of elements—namely, an unexpected celebrity pairing plus a new focus on real, epic moments from actual Clash of Clans games users have played.

The "True Tales of Clash Achievery" campaign launched today with a spot called "The Legend of the Last Lava Pup." It's narrated, amusingly enough, by Christoph Waltz as a kind of bedtime story to James Corden, who appears to be Waltz's son in this scenario.

In the suspenseful tale of a epic game that one user played, a Lava Pup, the lone survivor of the army, saves an entire clan seconds before the clock runs out. The footage switches from Waltz and Corden in a bedroom to battlefield scenes animated by Psyop. Then, at the very end, gameplay footage shows the preceding story as it happened in the game.

Combining three different perspectives—live action plus cinematic animation plus gameplay animation—is a novel storytelling method for video games. And it's a really nice way of using humor, spectacle and real gamer stories to keep viewers engaged.

The film went live on YouTube today. TV and social elements launch Dec. 25, as does a microsite where players can submit their own moments of achievery and view the stories being featured. Out-of-home ads launch Dec. 28 in New York, London and San Francisco.

Barton F. Graf, which used Liam Neeson in a Super Bowl ad for Clash of Clans back in February, has been mining Clash community pages, forums and even Reddit to find real stories for the campaign, emphasizing the idea that every Clasher has a story.